God
the Father, Son and Holy Spirit make up the Godhead: three distinct
personalities and functions that make up one God. Think of your dad…he is his
father’s son, your father, and your children’s grandfather. These are three
distinct roles for him to play, but he is still just one person.
Jesus
said, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father." He also said,
"I and the Father are one." Finally, He pronounced, "I have to
go, so that the counselor (Holy Spirit) may come (John 16:17)."
The
Holy Spirit's dynamite power raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11). We also can
depend on God's Spirit to liberate, lead, and strengthen us. He is our helper
in our times of need (Philippians 3:3; Romans 8:2-4, 14, 26; Galatians 4:6;
Ephesians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 2:4; Acts1:8).
God's
Spirit bears witness of Jesus (John 15:26), and He speaks to us concerning
God's will for us (Acts 13:2; 1 Corinthians 12:11). He provides our access to
God at all times (Ephesians 2:18). We can grieve Him by our pride and rebellion
that push us toward sin against God (Ephesians 4:30).
This
person of the Godhead inspires us to pray (Ephesians 6:18; Jude 20), convicts
us of our sins, (John 16:9, 14), cleanses us (1 Thessalonians 3:13; 1 Peter
1:2), and slowly replaces in us the negative attributes of our personality with
His spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:15-25).
The
Holy Spirit teaches us all things that Jesus said during His life on this earth
(John 14:26). He abides within us (Romans 8:9-14; Galatians 4:6), advising and
guiding us (John 16:13), teaching us (John 14:26), and comforting us each
moment of our life (Romans 8:15).
Prayer:
Father
God, thank You for giving us Your Holy Spirit at the moment of our salvation.
He empowers us, sanctifies us, gives us Your gifts, and glorifies Christ in all
things (John 15:26, 16:14; Romans 15:16; Titus 3:5; Luke 24:49; 1 Thessalonians
1:5; 1 Corinthians 12:8-11). We are so grateful that He replaces our carnal
characteristics of envy, strife, hatred, bitterness, self-centeredness, pride,
criticism, worry, depression, quitting, complaining, backbiting, and putting
work and sinful pleasures ahead of You and Your truth (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
Thank
You that due to His sanctifying work, we have His fruit:
Love
– affection for others,
Joy
– exuberance about life
Peace
– serenity
Patience
– willingness to stick with it
Gentleness
– compassion from the heart
Goodness
– kindness that pervades our entire being
Meekness
– humility and service
Self-Control
– guided by the Spirit
Faith
– trust that You know what You are doing and are in control of all things.
Thought
for the Day:
The
Good News is that God's Spirit sanctifies us moment-by-moment as we allow Him
to replace: hatred with love, depression with true joy, discontentment with
peace, irritation with patience,
criticism with gentleness, backbiting with goodness, pride with meekness,
excess with self-control, and worry with the faith of God as we are controlled
and guided by His Spirit.
